ntl: to penalise non DD customers & late payers

ClubMan said:
It's UPC who took over ntl:. I only learned this myself here on AAM recently. See Wikipedia.
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Yep, it sure is and their attitude to debt collecting in Amsterdam is quite interesting. If you default on payment (assuming you're not on DD) penalty amounts are put onto your bill. Interestingly enough, when they move the bad debt onto an external agency, they sell it for more than the current balance as the customers contract stipulates the allowance of this practice. EG the balance on an account is €80, non payment penalties bring it to €100, UPC sells it to the debt collection agency at €110 and they collect it 3 months later at €150.......As a result (and this is off the top of my head at this stage) they have a very healthy debtors ledger !!
 
Is there not some rule that you can't penalise people for choosing different methods of payment? I've a vague recollection of hearing something of this kind in relation to using a credit card to pay for flights or concert tickets.
 
I have the basic NTL TV package plus two extra connections. Last year my annual bill was €291.11 which was an increase on the previous year. This year it has further increased to €329.64. I received my bill today the 10th January. It says on the invoice "Bill date 21/12/2006 and payment by the 4/01/07". How am I supposed to pay this bill on time when it was received 6 days after the due date? I will complain. Incidentally there is no mention or enclosure with this bill to say that there is a late payment fee or charge for not paying bu DD.
Question. Is there an alternative way to receive my basic package than going with NTL?
 
Late bills are nothing new with NTL. They are a total joke of a company. If there were competition in the market, I think they would fail miserably. Late bills, new charges, threatening letters. It is incredible that their actions are not in the news headlines. Perhaps this new charge (if you dont agree to DD) might put them up there.
 
trailblazer said:
Perhaps this new charge (if you dont agree to DD) might put them up there.
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I thought that Joe Duffy or somebody had something on this recently so this charge's 15 minutes of fame is probably gone already and most people will just get on with things and pay it.
 
There is a message on NTL's service+account telephone number (1800321321) saying that decembers bills (21st+28th dec) were sent out late due to the holidays and an extension to payment due date would apply. Also that no-one would be charged without receiving a warning letter in advance.
 
ClubMan said:
Are they still sending bills out in the envelopes which were printed upside down? :D
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There is probably a logical reason for this believe it or not. This is because certain types of automated folding/enveloping machines can only fold and feed in one direction and the envelopes have closures at the botton to ensure address in window and logo on enveolope all face the same direction. I used one of theses machines for years in another company and we had to specify closures at the bottom when ordering envelopes.
 
I have just recieved my bill today 11th January 2007 and it says that payment is due by 4th Jan 2007. So I am already overdue! I had been thinking of moving to sky, does anyone know are they any cheaper than ntl?
 
Was just speaking to NTL setting up a new account (mad i know).
The guy explained it would be 2euro per bill if I didnt set up Direct Debit.
I asked why and he said it is because the sources of payment are charging them fees

e.g. if you go into your post office and pay your bill the post office are charging commission. So ntl are slapping on the commission charge if you dont want to pay via DD.

NTL's service is terrible in general but the above is done by lots of companies e.g. ticketmaster, ryanair charge 20quid for booking with a Visa card...

So we cant just complain about NTL when everyone is at it...
 
rgfuller said:
There is a message on NTL's service+account telephone number (1800321321) saying that decembers bills (21st+28th dec) were sent out late due to the holidays and an extension to payment due date would apply. Also that no-one would be charged without receiving a warning letter in advance.
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From their website:


Late Payment Charge

With effect from 1 January 2007 ntl will apply a late payment fee of €7.68 on all bills which are significantly overdue. The payment due date is 14 days after the bill date. ntl reserves the right to charge this fee on any overdue amounts. However, this fee will not be charged until written notification has been issued to the customer informing them of this pending fee and giving them an opportunity to rectify the situation before the fee is charged to their account.

Update: If your last bill was dated either 21 or 28 December 2006, an extension to the payment due date has been made. Customers can be assured that no late payment fee will be added without first receiving a written reminder and notification. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
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In my case, my recieved ntl bill couple of days before christmas and it stated that my direct debt would come out of account on the 29th December, 2006. On the 2nd Jan , I noticed the money had not been taken. I rang NTL and the said that they been bought by an another company and there is a few teething problems but everything was fine with my direct debit.

There was still no sign of the money been taken out this morning . Again made a phone call. This time I was told that I would have to send my details in again to set up the direct debit and I owe them money! You can not set the direct debit up over the phone.

Note: Bill was dated 14th December, 2006.
 
If you don't like the charge then use an alternative provider or method of obtaining the channels that you need. As posted in another thread most of the usual cable channels can be obtained for free by making a once off payment for a suitable satellite dish and free to air receiver/decoder.
 
I spoke to a guy in the ODCR today and he said what NTL were intending to do wasn't unlawful !

He also said that price increases were mentioned in the terms and conditions which we signed years ago and any fluctuation in the price was agreed to when signing up.

He further mentioned that the ODCR was "in talks" with NTL as they had a lot of calls about this €2.00 direct debit penalty issue and they hoped to "resolve" it before April.

So neither emailing ODCR nor calling them has any effect !
Does this mean we're stuck with NTL and will have to DD them ??
 
Sanf said:
I spoke to a guy in the ODCR today and he said what NTL were intending to do wasn't unlawful !
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Not what they told me (see above).
He also said that price increases were mentioned in the terms and conditions which we signed years ago and any fluctuation in the price was agreed to when signing up.
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Which means that they can presumably vary their charges as they see fit?
He further mentioned that the ODCR was "in talks" with NTL as they had a lot of calls about this €2.00 direct debit penalty issue and they hoped to "resolve" it before April.
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Yes - I heard this too.
So neither emailing ODCR nor calling them has any effect !
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Eh? I presume you mean ODCA? I emailed them and they replied to me as mentioned earlier.
Does this mean we're stuck with NTL and will have to DD them ??
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There may be other options - e.g. alternative cable or satellite providers or free to air satellite as mentioned on another thread.
 
Sanf said:
He further mentioned that the ODCR was "in talks" with NTL as they had a lot of calls about this €2.00 direct debit penalty issue and they hoped to "resolve" it before April.

So neither emailing ODCR nor calling them has any effect !
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Isn't this contradictory? Presumably the reason that ODCA entered into talks with NTL was somehow related to the volume of calls/emails?
 
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